Vernal City continues to tighten its belt. The Vernal City Council held a special meeting on Wednesday, June 28th, to address the budget and attorney contracts before the Fiscal Year starts over on July 1st. The council approved the budget at just over $9.8 million dollars. The City is anticipating pulling around $260,000 dollars from the Capital Projects fund to balance the budget but that will depend on how much sales tax comes in from May and June, explains Vernal City Mayor Sonja Norton. April was at 115% from one year ago so if that continues the City won’t have to pull as much from that fund. “The department heads have made balancing the budget a lot easier for us by tightening their belts,” says Mayor Norton. “We have been cutting costs and are running lean.” The Council also approved an increase on water rates on Wednesday night. “The cost to treat the water has gone up so we have to pass that cost on,” explains Mayor Norton. The base price increased by $2.30 and then the overage went up by about 30 cents per thousand gallons.
